Trump May Make America Miss Rex Tillerson

If Rex Tillerson had ended his professional career as chief executive officer of ExxonMobil, his reputation would have been that of a successful leader of one of the world’s largest companies and a devoted supporter of the Boy Scouts.

Instead he will be remembered as one of the country’s weakest and least effective secretaries of state. With no experience in foreign policy or government, he provided little leadership and eviscerated the department he was chosen to lead, enthusiastically carrying out the budget-cutting orders of a hot-headed president uninterested in diplomacy. Scores of senior diplomats and other professionals, the core of America’s foreign service, were either forced out or chose to flee.

And yet we have cause to regret his departure, because his replacement is likely to be worse.

Mr. Tillerson was at least one of the administration’s few realist voices, along with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. He acknowledged threats from Russia, advocated diplomacy with North Korea, supported the Paris climate pact, and encouraged Mr. Trump to preserve the Iran nuclear deal. But that frequently put him at odds with Mr. Trump.

The relationship was further eroded when it was reported that last summer he called the president a “moron” at a gathering of national security and cabinet officials and, after Mr. Trump spoke respectfully of white nationalists who demonstrated in Charlottesville, Va., Mr. Tillerson said Mr. Trump “speaks for himself.”

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So the president announced he would replace Mr. Tillerson with Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director and former Tea Party congressman, who has endeared himself to Mr. Trump with his engaging approach during morning intelligence briefings. Mr. Pompeo has also endeared himself to the climate-denying Koch brothers, who, along with their family, employees and affiliated groups donated $357,300 to his campaigns and political action committee, according to the McClatchy newspapers. Mr. Pompeo is unlikely to be sidelined in major policy debates, as Mr. Tillerson was regularly, even though he too, unlike Mr. Trump, supported his agency’s conclusion that the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 elections. But his hawkish approach could do serious damage on major national security issues, including Iran and North Korea, on which he has expressed views at odds with his predecessor’s.

The timing of Mr. Tillerson’s ouster most likely hinges on the fact that Mr. Trump is facing his biggest foreign policy gamble, a decision to hold direct negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, starting with face-to-face talks with the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, supposedly in May. Tough trade talks are also looming.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim are expected to set the stage for negotiations and then let senior teams for the two sides do the detail work, which is likely to take months if not years. Before the shakeup, it was assumed Mr. Tillerson would lead the American team — one hobbled by a lack of North Korea expertise. Now, that role is likely to be filled by Mr. Pompeo, who has effectively pushed for regime change in North Korea and even alluded to assassinating Mr. Kim.

Mr. Pompeo will face other challenges in managing an increasingly aggressive China, as well as dealing with Europe and Afghanistan and turmoil in Syria and other parts of the Middle East.

President Trump has chosen his C.I.A. director, Mike Pompeo, to replace Rex Tillerson as secretary of state.Credit
Lawrence Jackson for The New York Times

Few American officials have been so directly involved in the post-Sept. 11 frenzy of torture that began under President George W. Bush and was ended by President Barack Obama. As an undercover C.I.A. officer, Ms. Haspel played a direct role in the agency’s “extraordinary rendition program,” under which captured extremists were remanded to foreign governments and held at secret sites where they were tortured by agency personnel. She also was associated with videotaped recordings of torture that were later destroyed.

Although Ms. Haspel is reportedly respected by many C.I.A. officers, she effectively ran an illegal and immoral program. At a time when leaders throughout the world are abandoning democratic norms and a dedication to human rights, her appointment sends an unfortunate signal, especially when the president has expressed support for torture.

Some members of Congress had opposed her promotion in the past and would be wise to carefully reconsider her background when her nomination, and that of Mr. Pompeo, go before the Senate for confirmation.

Meanwhile, we are left once again to contemplate the chaos of the Trump White House.

The president didn’t even fire Mr. Tillerson in person. Mr. Tillerson learned the news Tuesday morning when an aide showed him Mr. Trump’s tweet announcing his dismissal. A State Department spokesman, Steve Goldstein, issued a release that said, “The secretary did not speak to the president and is unaware of the reason” for the change. Mr. Goldstein was later fired.

But Mr. Tillerson got in what now feels like a parting shot on Monday, telling reporters that Russia was clearly to blame for the poisoning of a former spy in Britain, something the White House refused to do.